I confess…I hate to throw things away. However, that doesn’t mean I plan to move all my unwanted items with me. Instead, I find a responsible way to dispose of them.
First, if I think something is a little too nice to be donated, I try to sell it. I’ve posted my for sale items on local listservs. I also used Craigslist to sell some things that don’t seem to appeal to folks in my general area. So far, I have been lucky and have managed to sell some furniture and small household items. When I realized how much I had to sell and how little I knew about selling those things, I contacted an Ebay seller who will try to sell those items for me.
I donate clothing, small household items to either Goodwill, http://www.dcgoodwill.org/ , or NAMI, http://nami-md.org/ . I donate furniture or household items that are still usable to A Wider Circle, http://awidercircle.org/ . They, in turn, help former homeless persons furnish their new living spaces with donations they have received. My place of last resort before heading to the trash is Freecycle,
Before I head to the dump, I turn to Freecycle as my last resort. I was disappointed to learn that I could not donate my children’s crib because the law now prohibits charities from accepting drop down cribs. After all, my children had used that crib and I had planned to keep it for my future grandchildren. It was too good to throw it away. So, I advertised on Freecycle and someone came by and took it home. Hooray! I’ve also used Freecycle to give away paints, paint supplies, household cleaners, gardening supplies, etc.
Of course, there are things that just can’t be given away and need to be thrown out. However, there’s even a way to do that in an environmentally-safe way. I live in Montgomery County, MD where the Division of Solid Waste Services, http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/sws/index.html , does a fantastic job of recycling.
I can take used, but clean textiles there to be recycled. They accept all kinds of electronics, batteries and much, much more. They even take used motor oil and cooking oil! I recently received a post card from announcing that they are now accepting rigid plastics for recycling! They also accept pesticides/herbicides. Of course, you do need to drive up to the transfer station. However, I am happy to take the time to drive there rather than dump everything into a landfill.
Downsizing produces a lot of unwanted items. After disposing of so much in a responsible manner, I am satisfied that I did it in the most responsible way possible.